I left SF in 1969 to get out of the clutches of the draft, Nixon (Pres) and Reagan (Gov) and with the exception of one show at Toronto's Rockpile that same year, never saw them live again, until visiting my family during this show. The parking lot was alive with heads listening to their tapes, smoking up, and there were the remnants of the Haight, selling T-shirts in little booths outside, young women trying to trade dope for tickets, and just a wonderful sense of community I had missed for 20 years. Terrapin--with the audience singing "inspiration" on the chorus--,You Can Run, and Death Don't Have No Mercy (which I had know idea was the first time since almost the last time I saw them) are all embedded in my aging brain. Do to having to catch a plane in the morning, I left with Sugar Magnolia playing in the background. I am so amazed to be able to hear this concert once more, it brings a tear to my eye. Thank you so much for this. And now, as relevant as it was in the 60s, Peace Brother.

Listen [over and over again] -- Jerry's solo is one of the great moments not only in Dead history, but in all of rock. No disrespect intended to JG's own great talents, but he is playing in Hendrix territory here.

I remember the buzz from this show traveling all the way from Shoreline to the East Coast. First Death Don't since 1970 was the big headline and of course we were in for so much more ... Hampton, E. Rutherford, the California Earthquake, and the Miami Meltdown. Arguably, the most important month of Dead music since May, 1977 and it all started with the assertive lead of J. John Garcia out of Miracle. The vocals are chilling, particularly Mydland's verse (in light of the reaper's visit to brother B almost 9 months to the day later) and Jerry's 2d verse, where he just takes it UP an octave. Those verses, along with Jer's screaming guitar lead are fantastic. The Sugar Mags closer seems oddly incongruous after the emotional spleen venting, but it's well played. The other highlight of the second set (I haven't run through set 1 yet) is the midi heavy Terrapin, but be advised that there is a pretty harsh drop out around 8.5 minutes in that lasts the better part of a minute -- kinda a bummer. Also, the sound mix is LOW, as in, you really have to turn the knob UP to get the sound. The Ultramix might be worth checking out as an alternative source. I'm giving this show a 4, based on the SHOW. The recording is probably closer to a 3.

for a period there88-91 or sothe boys could deliver some killer-bordering-on-great shows at the shoreline. this, for me, was one of them.

the breakout of 'death don't have no mercy' is the moment of note here, but the whole show has a great energy and the sound of this one is great. check out phil at the end of johnny b goode. or jerry's searching stabs in the transition between china cat and rider. there are a lot of quintenssential little dead moments...

takes me right back to section 204.

A bit of a problem-plagued second set. You'd think after 24 years they'd've figured it all out. As I recall, Phil Ducked out Mid-Terrapin because of a broken guitar strap or something. The rest of the band hastily went into Terrapin-Dub-Improvisation, until about 6:48 when Phil come back and they resume, and shortly thereafter Jerry sings "Since the end is never told..."
Anyway, when the ominous, yet all too familiar, music in the post-drums set the tone, I was, among others, drop-jawed when Jerry sang the words, "Death don't....have no mercy....in this land."
Mind you, I was high, so none of this review should be taken at all seriously.

This is the first 'Death Don't (have no mercy)' in 19 years (4.26.70). The show is a jaming night too, aside from the bust out nature of DDHNM, the china Cat is solid and tunes like 'we can run'
and 'blow away' and also the last solo version of 'Franklins Tower' became rare later.

After this show the next Franklins was played at Hampton on 10.8.89 and for the rest of the dead's career was always coupled with the Help>slipnot sequence culminating in 6.22.95. 'Franklins' was very rare after this night because Help>slip>franklins was played less often in the rotations on tour. In fact, the Dead only played 'Franklins Tower' 55 more times after this show over the next 6 years. In some cases there would be 10,17, and 20 show lapses of the Help>slip>frankliins. So this show is rare and really summs up nicely the late 80's Dead experience. The bust out of Death Don't also signified the next era of modern Dead, which was realized at Hampton just 2 weeks later (sweet sds here in the archive btw of 10.8 and 9 89.

This show is great and I give it my highest recomendation. Don't miss drums! The sound quality it very good but not a 5 star sbd, yet at somepoint sbd quality becomes a matter of mixing board preferences. This show is normalized so its nice, no one instrument superceeds another. Yet I always like those 5 star sbds where Jerry is tuned up really high. Check out the 1968 master reels in the archvie. Its a set of clips from shows with no known date yet listed as 12.31.68- I think. That set of recordiings is very kind. It may even include the very first St. Stephen. Just a guess sicne it happened some time in '68.

Enjoy them all!